


Point of Breaking

by tucker529



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-19 03:40:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9416987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tucker529/pseuds/tucker529
Summary: Set during A Messenger, Nothing More and beyond. When Rory runs into an Australian on the airplane coming home from Europe, she has a desire to find this man that has intrigued her, even with Dean pursuing her now that his marriage is over.





	1. Prologue

"Rory! Oh, my God. You're missing everything!" Lorelai Gilmore yelled, running as fast as she could in heels up the stairs towards her bedroom, clutching at the railing along the way. "Grab those CDs and head back to the inn before you miss the cross-dressing midgets. That's where the night is headed. Oh! Things are happening—big things, wow things. I have so much to tell you. Let me just open with this little tidbit—Kirk running naked through the square. Of course, with all my careful planning and preparation, I forgot to bring Band-aids and a camera," she continued, rushing towards the desk in the hallway between the kitchen and living room, digging through the drawers looking for her camera. "I have got to learn that, always, without fail, Kirk equals camera," Lorelai paused, seeing Rory rush out of her bedroom, fingers running through her hair and clothes rumpled. "Hey, what's going on?" she quietly said, her voice leery when Dean jumped out of Rory's room, a guilty look on his face as the two stumble around with their words.

"Dean came over to borrow something."

"Yeah," Dean Forester said, pausing for a moment as he continued to look at Lorelai, her face beginning to dawn with realization and horror at the situation that she walked into before he turned back to Rory, his shoulders tense. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"So, um, I should go. Umm… bye, Lorelai."

"Bye, Dean," Rory quietly said, her eyes following his form as he dashed out the back door, refusing to look back at her and face the repercussions of what he'd done. "So I'm almost done getting the CDs together. I picked a wide selection so we'd have choices, and then I picked a bunch that probably only you will like, but it's good to have options," Rory quickly explained, trying to keep her mother from her path towards the doorway to her bedroom.

Spotting the rumpled bed, and she sheets thrown back, Lorelai turned to her daughter, a look of pure sadness on her face as she took in Rory's appearance, "So, what… what'd he borrow?"

"I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about it first. I know I promised I would, but I swear, I didn't know that this was going to happen. I mean, I didn't know he was going to show up tonight, and it just happened. It's awful for you to find out like this, I know, but everything's okay. I'm okay, and we were, you know, safe. So all those Trojan man jokes all these years really apparently stuck. And I'm lucky, too, because Dean, he's—well, aren't you glad that it happened with someone who's good and… and really loves me?" Rory sputtered out, rushing her words as she was unable to look Lorelai in the eyes, fearful that tears would spill over in both their eyes if Rory looked her in the face.

"But… he's married."

"You don't understand the situation."

"Is he still married?"

"Yes, but –"

"Then I understand the situation."

"It's not working out between them. They're not happy."

"Oh, Rory…" Lorelai said, shaking her head at her daughter’s naivety.

"He tried the best he could, but it didn't work. It's over."

"He told you that?"

"Yes."

"He told you he's leaving her?"

"Well—" Rory started, her eyes moving away from her mother and looking towards the other side of the room, avoiding her gaze.

"He told you he's moving out, they're getting divorced, he's got a lawyer, they've divided up the monster-truck season tickets?" Lorelai reasoned, desperate to get her daughter to see reason.

"We didn't get around to discussing everything."

"You didn't get around to discussing everything?"

"It was a crazy night," Rory said, her voice soft in the kitchen.

"You, of all people—the girl who thinks  _everything_ through, the list maker—you didn't bother to discuss those things before jumping into bed with a married guy?"

"He's not a married guy. He's Dean –  _my_ Dean," she demanded, her eyes angry.

"He's not your Dean. He's Lindsay's Dean. You're the other woman."

"I told you, it's over."

"It's not over until he's out of the house with the ring off."

"He took the ring off," Rory said, throwing her arms up in exasperation.

"Oh, my god, I don't believe this," Lorelai said, disbelieving at the mess her daughter got herself into.

"He's in love with me, not Lindsay."

"Does Lindsay know that?"

"She's not good for him, okay? She lets him quit school and work himself to death and –" Rory said, raising her voice slightly, trying desperately to make her mother listen to her reasoning.

"No, no, Rory, uh-uh, you can't be one of those girls who blames the wife for forcing the husband to cheat."

"He wasn't cheating."

"He _was_  cheating, Rory. He was cheating, and you were cheating with him," Lorelai said, watching as Rory shook her head and dropped her gaze to the floor, a look of contempt forming on her face. "There's no other way to spin that, kid."

"I'm not spinning it, and I'm not a kid. I'm nineteen."

"This is your first time. It's not the way your first time was supposed to be."

"Oh, and how was my first time supposed to be?"

"Well, first of all, it was supposed to be in a retirement home. And secondly, ideally, it was supposed to be with someone single."

"My first time was with someone sweet and kind who loves me."

"I didn't raise you to be like this. I didn't raise you to be the kind of girl who sleeps with someone else's husband."

"You slept with dad when he was with Sherry," Rory threw at her mother, a slight loathing tone directed at her mother.

"He wasn't married to Sherry," Lorelai said, her voice calm and even as she looked at Rory.

"He was engaged,  _and_  she was pregnant."

"So, this is my fault? I set one crappy example for you, and you have no choice but to follow in my footsteps?" Lorelai said, throwing it back at Rory for a moment, watching as her daughter turned and walked away, desperate to have her listen to her, she quickly followed, continuing her relentless pursuit. "Rory, what are you going to do now? Huh? Is there a plan?"

"I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"I just want what's best for you, that's all!"

"I don't want to talk about it!"

"I just don't want you to get hurt, Rory. What if he doesn't leave her? Now you're all emotionally involved."

"You're just mad because I didn't come running to you to discuss whether or not I was ready for this step. I decided it on my own."

"Well, obviously, you weren't ready for this step. The very fact that you chose another girl's guy to sleep with proves that!"

"He was my boyfriend first!"

"But you dumped him! You rejected him! You picked someone else!"

"Stop it!"

"Rory!"

"I hate you for ruining this for me!" Rory yelled, clutching her cell phone as she walked into the foyer, grabbing her jacket and rushing out of the house, tears steadily running down her cheeks.

-

"Hello?" Rory said, grabbing her cell phone and answering the ringing phone.

"Your grandmother is here for her lunch," Lorelai said, rolling her eyes as her mother walked away.

"But she left," Rory said, pointing out the obvious.

"Could you just get back here?"

"I'm kind of busy," Rory said, shaking her hand.

"Rory, this is not for me, okay? This is for your grandmother. You like your grandmother, remember?"

"Fine."

"Great."

"Bye."

_

"The weather's lovely," Emily Gilmore said, nodding at the waiter.

"Yes, it is."

"Rory, don't you think it's lovely?" she questioned, making polite small talk, looking above her for a moment, enjoying the trees and birds.

"It's very lovely."

"Yes. Lovely," Emily said, looking around for a moment before abruptly making harsh movement, attracting the attention of the other two Gilmores. "Well, I don't see any reason to put this off any longer. Girls, I have something to say that may shock you, but unfortunately there's nothing I can do about that now. Lorelai, Rory, Richard and I have separated."

"And?"

"What do you mean 'and'? That's not enough? You need some sort of mob-related offing to make it interesting?"

"No, Mom, that's plenty. It's just, we already knew."

"Rory didn't."

"Well, I mean, I didn't know know—"

"Why would you tell her?"

"Mom!"

"Who else did you tell?"

"So, you haven't read 'Page Six'?"

"Rory, if you need to talk about this to try and understand why this is happen, than by all means, do not ask your mother."

"Okay, Mom, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be insensitive. It just seemed like a thing you and Dad were going through. I figured you'd make up."

"Well, we didn't."

"I see that. So, wow, you're really separated?"

"That's right. Your father's moving into the pool house."

"So then you're not separated."

"Of course we are."

"You're separated by the pool."

"That's it. That's the end of your input on this," Emily said quickly, holding her hand up in an effort to prevent her daughter from saying anything else on the matter.

"I'm sorry, Grandma."

"Well, what's done is done. I'm moving on. And to celebrate the next stage of my life, I'm going to Europe by myself for the very first time since I was in college. I'm leaving tonight."

"Tonight? That's fast."

"Well, I wanted to leave quickly, so I called my travel agent and insisted that he put me on tonight's plane to Paris no matter what. He finally managed to bump someone from a church group, and I've got my seat, and I'm leaving at 10:00. And, Rory, my offer to you still stands."

"What offer?"

"My offer to escort you around Europe this summer."

"Oh."

"Every young lady should do Europe the proper way at least once in her life, and I would be thrilled to have your company on this very special occasion. Of course, I know it's very short notice, so if you already have plans for the summer, I completely understand."

"You know, I think Europe sounds great," Lorelai said, giving her daughter a calculated look, "I think you would really enjoy that. I mean, remember—we loved Paris. You don't have anything special planned for the summer, do you?"

"No, nothing special."

"Well, then? What do you say? Would you like to be impulsive with me?"

"Sure Grandma, I'd love to," Rory said, watching as a shocked smile appeared on her mother's face.

"That is just wonderful! I'll call Ralphie right away and tell him to pump another Baptist. We'll have a wonderful time, you and I. I'll be just like 'Gigi'."

-

By the time that Rory Gilmore had graduated high school, there had only been three men in her life: Luke Danes, her father figure; Dean Forester, her first boyfriend; and then lastly, Jess Mariano, the bad boy who had taught her the ways of the world. With her mother's coffee addiction, and her habit for unhealthy food, the one thing that she didn't inherit from her mother was the habit of running from any man that got close enough to having a lasting relationship.

Now about to begin her second year at Yale University, she was struggling with the development that she began with her and Dean at the start of summer, with it officially ended, and her relationship with her mother permanently damaged, Rory was forced into wondering whether she was who she had always thought that she had been.

Closing her eyes, she held her breath as the plan slowly descended into Hartford International and her grandmother criticizing the flight attendants service. Once the plane had landed, and the passengers had been made aware of being able to move about the plane, Rory finally opened her eyes and let out a breath, quickly standing up as splotches invaded her vision, blinking quickly, trying to clear her vision and get moving, stunned when her legs weakened and gave out on her, sending her backwards towards the aisle and the mass exodus of people when tow arms wrapped around her waist and kept her in place, slowly steadying her before pulling her back into a standing position, his hands lingering on her waist, keeping her steady.

"Crap, I apologize, I've been sitting since we got on the plane in Lond…"

"Don't worry about it, love, happens to everyone at some point or another," a man said, the Australian accent surprising her and causing her to spin around to face the accented being that kept her from making a complete fool of herself rather than just a partial one.

"Rory! Hurry up, we have to get our luggage and take you home," Rory suddenly heard her grandmother yell through the crowd.

Sighing, she quickly nodded before lifting her head even higher and looking into the dark green eyes of a man close to her age, "Thank you, I would have made a complete fool out of myself if it wasn't for you…" she quietly said, reaching behind her and pulling up her messenger bag carrying her laptop and two books.

"You're welcome, Miss Gilmore," he said, "Maybe we'll meet again."

Rory had barely nodded by the time he'd snuck back into the crowd and shuffled out the doorway, leaving her with the memory of his voice and the silence that was resounding through her mind, mesmerized at the green eyes and the exotic accent that had left her speechless.


	2. Chapter One

"Stop saying let it go. Stop saying let it go, John, stop it, stop it!" There was a pause inside the house for a moment before Rory opened the door and Sookie St. James' voice floated through, "I am letting it go, I just… need you to know, that everything is getting done, so that I know that I can fully let it go."

"Hello?" Rory said, trying to see if Sookie had just taken over their kitchen again, or if her mom was in there with her.

"Kitchen!" Lorelai yelled.

"Okay, I am hanging up, but I am not letting it go," Sookie said as Rory jogged into the kitchen.

"Mom!" she quickly said, being pulled into a hug by her mother.

"Aw, my little traveler!"

"I missed you."

"I missed you too," Lorelai said, looking as though she was about to cry, releasing her daughter.

"Sookie!"

"Ooo, hmm… you remembered who I am!" Sookie quickly said, pulling Rory from her mother's grasp and into a tight hug.

"Hello?" a voice came from the entryway, the curious tone evident.

"Hi."

"Hello, Lorelai," Emily said, quickly walking around the corner, "Oh, why hello, Sookie!"

"Hi Emily," Sookie politely said.

"Hi Mom," Lorelai said, quickly going in to give her a hug, when Emily suddenly shied away from her daughter.

"Don't. I smell like airplane," she quickly said, moving away before Lorelai could wrap her arms around her.

"I guess I should go and get my bags," Rory exclaimed, straightening her sweater as she moved towards the door.

"Rory, you do not touch bags," Emily said, exasperated at her granddaughter.

"Oh, I thought that was just a Europe thing…" she quickly said, looking down at the ground for a moment, unsure of how to defuse the awkward situation.

"The driver is bringing them in," Emily said, nodding her head up and down for a moment. "Oh, we had such a trip! Rory will fill you in; spare her the more salacious aspects." She said, tapping Rory's shoulder for a moment before turning to look at Lorelai when she heard her daughter's voice.

"Salacious aspects?"

"Those European men; young, old, in-between; they saw us coming."

"They saw you coming where?" Sookie suddenly piped in.

"We were like magnets," Emily said, her smile growing, "Such high libidos."

Lorelai's face turned into a grimace for a moment before quickly retorting to her mother, "You weren't wearing your 'hot and wealthy' sandwich board again, were you, Mom?" she quickly said, with a slightly disgusted look on her face at the mention of men's libidos.

"She was very popular," Rory stated, her eyes still focused on the ground at her feet, her mind quickly wandering back to the accented man who caught her fall.

"Well… I should go," Emily said, putting her arm around Rory, "I'm bringing you back a charming, cultured, well-mannered young lady. Don't undo it."

"I will definitely try to not not undo it," Lorelai said, smirking at her mother.

"Well, goodbye all," she quickly turned to Rory and gave her a small wave.

"Bye Grandma," Rory quickly said before moving in to give her a hug.

"Nope. Airplane." Emily stated, quickly moving her body backwards.

"Op, I can take it," Rory said, moving in and giving her grandmother a hug. "Thanks Grandma."

"Ciao," Emily stated before walking towards the front door and leaving.

The other three quietly laughed before Lorelai and Sookie ushered Rory towards the table to sit down. "Come here you," Lorelai said, pulling a chair out quickly.

"So, what are you guys doing home?"

"Well, we're trying to get some distance from the inn," she said while opening a can.

"And it's going through the roof," Sookie quickly said, giggling. "Not the inn's roof, that's solid as a rock, you know what I mean," Sookie said, her speech starting to speed up. "We're booked to ninety percent capacity, and the restaurant, we're turning people away. Of course, you know all that."

"No, no, keep going," Rory said, eager to hear all the news about the inn.

"Well, customers agree, that despite Michel, we're their favorite Connecticut inn," she said in a soft voice, as if she was afraid that saying it aloud would make it not true. "Oh, but that's nothing compared to the big town news."

"Wow, what?" Rory said, instantly curious, glancing over at her mother, wondering why she was so silent.

"We just walked past Dean's place, and Lindsay was throwing his stuff out on the street. They were really going at it. It was like raging boulders," she said, her speech starting to speed up and the volume rising, along with the panicked look on Rory's face. "There was yelling and screaming and…"

Lorelai quickly interrupted Sookie's monologue and prevent her from further panicking Rory and making her feel awful for the situation. "Woh, Sookie, you're exploding all over the poor girl…"

"Oh, sorry," she said, smiling guiltily.

"And she's probably hungry," Lorelai quickly said before Sookie could notice the change in Rory's expression, "You're hungry, right honey?"

Rory slowly nodded, looking as though she might be sick at any moment.

"Oh! I'll whip us something up," Sookie immediately offered the girls.

"No, no, well, you said that you had to pick Davy up. So, we'll go out. And we'll call you later," Lorelai quickly jumped in, allowing her daughter a moment to try and pull herself together.

"Okay," Sookie said, standing up.

"Okay, well, we'll go."

The three quickly got up and started towards the door, Lorelai lightly rubbing Rory's back as they walked out.

"Talk to you later," Sookie said, her voice cheerful.

"See you later, Sookie," Lorelai quietly stated.

"What happened?" Rory asked, dazed.

-

"It was unbelievable. It was bad. She was yelling. She was throwing things. He was yelling. She called him a jerk. It was very violent, and very public. Other people saw it. It was… horrible." Lorelai said, describing the scene of Dean and Lindsay's fight outside their apartment.

"This was not supposed to happen," Rory said quietly, still obviously stunned by the news.

"You!" Lindsay's mother, Theresa Lister, said after running into Lorelai and Rory. Lindsay just continued to look at the ground, a awkward and devastated look on her face. "You should be ashamed of yourself. For what you did," she said, her voice starting to rise.

"Just wait." Lorelai said, trying to calm her down.

"What did she ever do to you? Huh? How did she hurt you? Why are you doing this?" Theresa demanded, firing the questions off without giving Rory, or Lorelai, time to answer them.

"Theresa. Please. Calm down."

"Calm down?" she said, amazed that Lorelai would demand such a thing. "My little girl has to come home and find your heinous letter in Dean's jacket."

"Look, we're in the street…"

"You little monster!" Theresa said, interrupting what Lorelai was trying to say to her.

"HEY! Pull back, lady!"

"There aren't hundreds of other boys in the world? You have to go after her husband?"

"Okay, stop attacking my daughter, right now. You're upset, I get it. But you do not do this."

"She slept with my son-in-law. She broke up a marriage. Are you proud?"

"She did not break up a marriage."

"What do you know of this?"

"Enough. I know Rory."

"Well, all I know, is that my Lindsay is devastated and Dean is back with his parents, lives are destroyed, and you and your daughter can go to hell," Theresa said, quickly grabbing Lindsay's hand and speeding off away from the two Gilmores.

Rory and Lorelai stood there for a moment before Lorelai started to question Rory about what was in the letter she had her deliver to Dean, "Okay, I have got to know what was in that letter."

"Umm… I… I told him that… that night was special, and that I wasn't sorry that it happened. But he's married, and he has to figure out his life. So I was going to make it easier for him, and take myself out of the mix," Rory said, her eyes continuing to take in their surroundings, slightly afraid that someone else was going to approach them the same way that Lindsay and her mother had.

After a short pause, Lorelai quietly spoke up, "That was a very good letter."

"I can't believe she found it."

"We can't keep standing here."

"I know."

"The streets are dangerous right now."

"Very."

As they walked into Luke's, Lorelai quickly told Rory that anything she wanted was on her, while lightly rubbing her back. Rory, on the other hand, was stunned that Lindsay had found out, but also that Dean hadn't even crossed her mind before Sookie started to mention them, all her mind had been on was the Australian that had been on the airplane with her, and why after the thirteen hour flight, she hadn't managed to notice him previously.

He was eccentric, that much was sure; either that or he was gay, but Rory doubted that considering the way that his eyes had lingered on her hips and skimmed her breasts as he quickly glanced her over. The man had stood at about six feet, two inches tall, with a pair of green eyes that had drawn her in and stuck out in her mind like no one else's had managed to over the years. Rory remembered the feeling of his hands against her waist and stomach, the feeling of comfort and protection that had washed over her for the moment that he held her up, his chest rubbing up against her back. Closing her eyes for a moment, she pictured what she saw of him and smiled when she heard Lane run over, grabbing her in a hug before sitting down quickly and starting to ramble on about how she apparently was in love with Zach, or at least a rather intense like. Telling her mother that she was fine, and that she was consulting on a quandary, her mother rushed off to go and meet Luke.

After all, her and Jess had used that same tactic to get around her mother and Luke only a year ago.

Nodding and listening to Lanes go on about Zach and her possible like for him, Rory hmmed and nodded when appropriate, but didn't give anything specific to what she felt, because she wasn't honestly sure whether or not Lane liked Zach, and Rory hadn't been around enough in the past year to be a good judge of either of them anymore, and it pained her to acknowledge that, especially considering that Lane had been one of her best friends for years, and it felt as though Yale had now taken that away from her.

Lane soon bounced off after taking Rory's order, and also wrote down Lorelai's usual lunch order. Leaning her elbows on the table and resting her head on her hands, she shook the Australian's voice out of her head, settling into her seat, waiting for her mother and Luke to come back so she'd feel comfortable enough eating and then going to just hibernate in her room. After all, she still needed to pack everything to move into Brandford Hall on Monday. Closing her eyes again, she started a mental list of all the things that she would need to buy before she left for school, at least what she could get from Star's Hallow.

Hearing the bell ring on the door, Rory's eyes flew open and went towards the doorway, her mother strutted in, with Luke closing following behind her back into the diner, both with giddy smiles on their faces. Lorelai quickly sat down and looked at her daughter, before quickly looking at her food and then back up at her daughter, a contented, happy look in her eyes.

Smiling, Rory paused for a moment, considering her words before she spoke, "So… how was meeting up with Luke?"

"Hmm…" Lorelai said, her smile growing wider, "I have no idea what you're talking about."


	3. Chapter Two

**Four Days Later – Yale University**

Finn Rothschild ran his fingers through his hair that was lightly curling in the humidity of the late August air, enjoying the feeling of walking through Yale's campus without the pressure of classes, due dates, or, surprisingly, society events. He watched for a moment as two girls came from the corner of his eye and approached the three males, a slight smile spreading on his face when the girl's faces lit up at Logan's last name, something that frequently happened at Yale now; after all, the Huntzburgers were well known enough in the upper class society that most at Yale were from, but add on top of that Logan's growing reputation with the women on campus… well, it was just asking for trouble. Lucky for Colin McCrae and Finn, the two of them had learned early on the keep their escapades, at least when it came to women, under wraps, Colin more so because of his infatuation with Stephanie Merdock though.

Finn let out a laugh and lightly hit Colin on the shoulder, "Grab me a coffee with yours, mate. Gotta have a jolt if you two are planning on dragging me to the pub again tonight with all this jetlag."

"Us two? Since when are we the ones that drag you to the pub, Finn? As I recall, you pulled Logan away from a date last night and me away from one the night before so we could go and get plastered at the pub."

"Oh yes… I do suppose that you're right. Now, to the coffee!" Finn said as a smirk spreak across his face as he watched his friend roll his eyes and walk over towards the coffee cart, right into a couple holding coffees and casually chatting with each other, a slightly shocked expression on the man's face appearing when he was bumped.

"Oh, sorry," the male said, his eyes scanning Colin for a moment before a slight glare formed, barely noticeable.

"No, seriously, you couldn't see me there?" Colin said, causing Logan to glance over at Finn with a concerned look on his face, Finn quickly walking over with a grin on his face in an effort to defuse the situation.

"Not everyone's staring at you, Colin," he quickly said, swinging his arm over his friend's shoulders, enjoying the groan that escaped Colin's mouth with the added weight.

Finn glanced at the couple in front of him, just in time to see the brunette's head shoot up at the sound of his voice, a slight expression of surprise coming over his face at the woman in front of him, a genuine smile forming on his lips when their eyes connected and her breath suddenly became shallow. Finn took a moment to break their eye contact and slowly scan her body, enjoying the light blush that formed on her face at the realization of what he was doing. "Miss Gilmore, fancy seeing you here," he quickly said with a teasing tone, his grin widening at the confused look on her companion's face. "I don't believe that I properly introduced myself when we met earlier. Finn Rothschild," he said, taking his arm off of Colin's shoulder and stepping closer to her, holding his hand out to shake hers.

Rory tentatively reached out her hand, Finn watching her pause for a split second before laying her hand in his, gently shaking it and then removing it, her eyes scanning his face for a moment before speaking. "I'd be a little more comfortable if you'd be willing to call me Rory."

"Finn, how do you know her?" Logan suddenly asked, his eyes lingering on Rory's hips and breasts for an obvious moment, causing a glare to come from the girl in question.

Shrugging, Finn replied quickly, his eyes flicking over to his blonde friend, "Well, Logan, you see, when I had to leave our little boating trip a bit earlier than everyone else, I did have to take a plane to get back here. I met her on that plane, with a rather interesting meet cute." He paused for a moment and then looked over back at Rory, "Would you like to join us at the pub for a drink, love? Your friend…"

"Marty," he said, jumping into the conversation. "I've bartended for some of Logan's parties last year, remember?"

"He made some kick-ass margaritas," Logan suddenly blurted out, a look of realization on his face.

Finn quickly looked over at his friend, throwing an incredulous look onto his face before turning back to Rory. "So, you up to figuring out if you can out drink me, kitten?"

Colin snorted behind him and shook his head, "As if…"

Rory looked at Colin with a stunned, slightly insulted look on her face before she focused her attention back to Finn. "You're on Mr. Rothschild," Rory said, a small smile forming on her face before she focused her attention on Marty. "You might not want to join in on this spectacle, it may not be my most shining of moments."

-

Four hours and seven Irish coffees later, heavy on the Irish, the group was beginning to wonder whether or not Finn would succeed in this little venture that they'd gotten themselves into; Rory, on the other hand, was wondering whether she even had a chance to win from the beginning. Despite the trip to Europe with her mother, which had resulted in Lorelai giving Rory many lessons on drinking men under the table when they underestimated the women, she was beginning to feel the effects of the drinks, whereas it appeared as though Finn wasn't. Closing her eyes for a moment, she thought about how proud her dearest mother would be at this moment, opting to drink rather than get ready for the start of classes. Smiling, she opened her eyes, and was startled to see two clear green eyes peering over at her from across the small table, the laughter of the pub barely filtering through both of their thoughts.

"We should start in on the shots, love. After all, what is drinking without lots of shots?" a smirking Finn piped in while some of the others stood around chattering with each other.

Apprehensively, Rory nodded in agreement, closing her eyes for a moment, trying to block out the events of the beginning of summer and focus on the moment and on her future, a future that may involve the continued presence of the Australian standing at the bar, smiling over at her as the bartender gathered shot glasses and what looked like tequila. A tear slid down Rory's face and she quickly wiped it away as Finn walked back to the table with a tray.

"You ready, Miss Gilmore?" he said in a teasing tone.

Rory pasted a happy look on her face and quickly retorted, "Only if you think that you have a chance of beating me."

Nodding, Finn quickly flipped over six shot glasses and set three in front of each of them, pouring the lightly-tinted amber liquid into the glasses before setting it down and picking one of them up, saluting Rory quickly before throwing it back. Smirking, he set it back on the tray upside down and looked at Rory, his eyes following her movements as she peeled her olive colored jacket off, revealing the strip of skin between her breasts, lightly peppered with freckles, any cleavage cleverly covered by the white silk of the top. She quietly giggled as she watched Finn's eyes run up and down her torso quickly at first, then slowing down as it occurred to him that she wasn't going to slide her jacket back on before he had had a chance to implant the memory into his head.

Rory took the opportunity of his distraction to throw back a shot and quickly grab the other one and felt the liquid slide down her throat as she enjoyed the slow burning, the heat that quickly spread through her body. When her eyes leveled with the green ones that had previously been admiring her chest and waist, she noticed that they were clouded with something other than alcohol, something that resembled admiration, surprise, and, possibly, a bit of lust. Slowly raising the second shot glass, she kept her eyes on his, quickly throwing the shot back and taking a bite of the lime that had been set in front of her, the sudden sourness causing her to break eye contact and squeeze her eyes shut.

Ignoring the pleasant twisting in her stomach, something that she hadn't felt since before Jess had left Star's Hollow, she handed Finn the third of his set of shot glasses, taking the moment of his distraction to admire the tan arms that were left uncovered, slowly appreciating the broad shoulders and prominent jaw that was lightly sprinkled with short hairs, something that she hadn't noticed previously. Grabbing her shot glass, she handed the bottle of tequila over to Colin who was standing annoyingly close to her, hovering at the table waiting for the two to finish with the bottle.

Suddenly Finn's laugh cut through her thoughts, she slowly followed his gaze to see Colin now standing in front of a girl with long blonde hair that was in tightly done curls, Rory thought her name was Stephanie, attempting to get her to drink with him, or maybe it was to come home with him. "Colin has been going after Steph for ages, love, it's always entertaining to see him drunk and her turning him down all night long."

"Oh," she quietly stated, glancing up on the wall to find that it had been hours since she had last even thought of checking the clock. She shook her head for a moment, focusing her eyes to see if she had seen the time wrong, her mouth dropping open slightly when she realized that she hadn't. "Finn, I have to go, my roommate should be moved in by now, and I haven't seen her all summer…"

"Let me walk you then," he quickly said when she moved to stand up. "You've probably had more than you've had in while."

Rory slightly nodded in the affirmative, agreeing with Finn before taking the hands that he offered to help her step off the stool and onto solid ground, enjoying the feeling of his rough hands gently holding her own. She paused for a moment, attempting to steady herself enough to let go of his hands, failing quickly before throwing a helpless look at Finn, and she suddenly felt one of his arms wrap around her waist and steady her, his chest partially pressing up against her back and shoulder, causing her to feel the muscles beneath his shirt. Keeping his arm there, the two of them quietly maneuvered around the crowded pub, both of them silently shifting closer towards each other as they reached the heavy traffic of the front door.

"Rory? Are you okay?" Finn's voice whispered in her ear while they walked out the door.

She quickly nodded, feeling her head spin when she did, and the feeling in her stomach returning once again that night at the feeling of his warm breath sneaking its way around her ear and down her neck, his cologne engulfing her senses, the sweet, slightly spiced smell causing a smile to form on her face, the light draft of alcohol just under the delicious smell. Silently, she breathed his scent in, trying to memorize this moment to relive it later, in detail, with her mother once she had woken up and gained some hangover food. "Why are you taking care of me, Finn?" Rory heard her voice suddenly blurt out unexpectedly.

Rory watched as his head snapped up and then his eyes wondered over what he could see of her figure for a moment before he answered, his voice hesitant, "You left your family to travel to Europe with your grandmother; which, unless you had grown up with her, no college-aged student would do. But you're a Gilmore, which means that you come from high society, but also means that I should have seen out at all of those society parties the past few years, yet I haven't. That means that you live with your mother, Lorelai, I think her name is. It also proves that you didn't live with your grandparents, so you were running away from something this summer, the only question, kitten, is what."

Quickly biting her tongue, she prevented herself from speaking, knowing that anything she said about the situation that she'd gotten herself into with Dean would ruin whatever impression Finn had managed to get from her. She closed her eyes for a moment and thought about that night with Dean, shuddering for a moment before she slipped out of Finn's grasp, her feet getting tangled in each other. Finn quickly gripped her waist, pulling her up against him, their chests coming flush against each other's, his grip quietly tightening around her as she unwittingly allowed herself to lean into him.

"You don't think that you can trust me, do you?"

Rory silently nodded, lightly struggling against his grasp, which he silently loosened, keeping his hands close to her waist as she stepped backwards, creating a distance between the two of them as she allowed their eyes to lock, noticing that the emotions which had previously been present had been pushed out and overcome by one that had made his eyes darken in a way that she had rarely seen in any guy she'd been remotely involved with, and had her slightly leery of digging deeper to figure out exactly what it was. "I need to check on Paris," she managed to push out, her voice strained.

Finn nodded and held onto her shoulders for a moment, a questioning tone in his gaze before he knelt down, pulled her up and started to carry her. A look of surprise took over her facial expressions before she gave in and rested her head on his chest, silently allowing him to carry her in the direction of her dorm. Taking the time that was given to her, she allowed herself for the first time to consider what she'd done, something that she'd avoided almost to the point of denial. Suddenly, Rory felt tears quickly build up in her eyes and start to spill over with the relationship that she's slept with a married man. A married man that hadn't even been willing to leave his wife after she'd given him her virginity, something that she had been saving for someone truly special to her.

Feeling the fabric underneath her chin begin to dampen, she bit her lip as hard as she could, her shoulders tensing as she tried to keep herself from crying anymore; if she did, Finn would notice, if he hadn't already. Rory closed her eyes, squeezing the last of her tears out and moving to wipe them off when she felt his arms tighten around her form, dropping a kiss on top of her head before he started whispering unintelligible things into her hair as he carried her further around Yale.

In her attempt to stop crying and prevent Finn from finding out how messed up she was, she had managed to ruin it and show him. She heard someone sobbing, quietly at first, but getting louder as it went on before she realized that the person that was sobbing was, in fact, her. At this point, she was gasping out how sorry she was before Finn placed a small kiss on her forehead, telling her not to worry about it, that it was going to be fine. Slowly feeling herself being lowered, her legs and ass colliding with his legs as he sat down on a bench, Finn's arms tightening around her shoulders and waist, Rory curling up into him.

She grasped his shirt and buried her face into his chest, continuing to hold her tight to his body. Slowly, she felt herself low down to only a whimper before she drifted off to sleep in Finn's arms, slowly breathing in the comforting scent of his cologne and laundry detergent.


	4. Chapter Three

**Four Days Later – Yale University**

Finn Rothschild ran his fingers through his hair that was lightly curling in the humidity of the late August air, enjoying the feeling of walking through Yale's campus without the pressure of classes, due dates, or, surprisingly, society events. He watched for a moment as two girls came from the corner of his eye and approached the three males, a slight smile spreading on his face when the girl's faces lit up at Logan's last name, something that frequently happened at Yale now; after all, the Huntzburgers were well known enough in the upper class society that most at Yale were from, but add on top of that Logan's growing reputation with the women on campus… well, it was just asking for trouble. Lucky for Colin McCrae and Finn, the two of them had learned early on the keep their escapades, at least when it came to women, under wraps, Colin more so because of his infatuation with Stephanie Merdock though.

Finn let out a laugh and lightly hit Colin on the shoulder, "Grab me a coffee with yours, mate. Gotta have a jolt if you two are planning on dragging me to the pub again tonight with all this jetlag."

"Us two? Since when are we the ones that drag you to the pub, Finn? As I recall, you pulled Logan away from a date last night and me away from one the night before so we could go and get plastered at the pub."

"Oh yes… I do suppose that you're right. Now, to the coffee!" Finn said as a smirk spreak across his face as he watched his friend roll his eyes and walk over towards the coffee cart, right into a couple holding coffees and casually chatting with each other, a slightly shocked expression on the man's face appearing when he was bumped.

"Oh, sorry," the male said, his eyes scanning Colin for a moment before a slight glare formed, barely noticeable.

"No, seriously, you couldn't see me there?" Colin said, causing Logan to glance over at Finn with a concerned look on his face, Finn quickly walking over with a grin on his face in an effort to defuse the situation.

"Not everyone's staring at you, Colin," he quickly said, swinging his arm over his friend's shoulders, enjoying the groan that escaped Colin's mouth with the added weight.

Finn glanced at the couple in front of him, just in time to see the brunette's head shoot up at the sound of his voice, a slight expression of surprise coming over his face at the woman in front of him, a genuine smile forming on his lips when their eyes connected and her breath suddenly became shallow. Finn took a moment to break their eye contact and slowly scan her body, enjoying the light blush that formed on her face at the realization of what he was doing. "Miss Gilmore, fancy seeing you here," he quickly said with a teasing tone, his grin widening at the confused look on her companion's face. "I don't believe that I properly introduced myself when we met earlier. Finn Rothschild," he said, taking his arm off of Colin's shoulder and stepping closer to her, holding his hand out to shake hers.

Rory tentatively reached out her hand, Finn watching her pause for a split second before laying her hand in his, gently shaking it and then removing it, her eyes scanning his face for a moment before speaking. "I'd be a little more comfortable if you'd be willing to call me Rory."

"Finn, how do you know her?" Logan suddenly asked, his eyes lingering on Rory's hips and breasts for an obvious moment, causing a glare to come from the girl in question.

Shrugging, Finn replied quickly, his eyes flicking over to his blonde friend, "Well, Logan, you see, when I had to leave our little boating trip a bit earlier than everyone else, I did have to take a plane to get back here. I met her on that plane, with a rather interesting meet cute." He paused for a moment and then looked over back at Rory, "Would you like to join us at the pub for a drink, love? Your friend…"

"Marty," he said, jumping into the conversation. "I've bartended for some of Logan's parties last year, remember?"

"He made some kick-ass margaritas," Logan suddenly blurted out, a look of realization on his face.

Finn quickly looked over at his friend, throwing an incredulous look onto his face before turning back to Rory. "So, you up to figuring out if you can out drink me, kitten?"

Colin snorted behind him and shook his head, "As if…"

Rory looked at Colin with a stunned, slightly insulted look on her face before she focused her attention back to Finn. "You're on Mr. Rothschild," Rory said, a small smile forming on her face before she focused her attention on Marty. "You might not want to join in on this spectacle, it may not be my most shining of moments."

-

Four hours and seven Irish coffees later, heavy on the Irish, the group was beginning to wonder whether or not Finn would succeed in this little venture that they'd gotten themselves into; Rory, on the other hand, was wondering whether she even had a chance to win from the beginning. Despite the trip to Europe with her mother, which had resulted in Lorelai giving Rory many lessons on drinking men under the table when they underestimated the women, she was beginning to feel the effects of the drinks, whereas it appeared as though Finn wasn't. Closing her eyes for a moment, she thought about how proud her dearest mother would be at this moment, opting to drink rather than get ready for the start of classes. Smiling, she opened her eyes, and was startled to see two clear green eyes peering over at her from across the small table, the laughter of the pub barely filtering through both of their thoughts.

"We should start in on the shots, love. After all, what is drinking without lots of shots?" a smirking Finn piped in while some of the others stood around chattering with each other.

Apprehensively, Rory nodded in agreement, closing her eyes for a moment, trying to block out the events of the beginning of summer and focus on the moment and on her future, a future that may involve the continued presence of the Australian standing at the bar, smiling over at her as the bartender gathered shot glasses and what looked like tequila. A tear slid down Rory's face and she quickly wiped it away as Finn walked back to the table with a tray.

"You ready, Miss Gilmore?" he said in a teasing tone.

Rory pasted a happy look on her face and quickly retorted, "Only if you think that you have a chance of beating me."

Nodding, Finn quickly flipped over six shot glasses and set three in front of each of them, pouring the lightly-tinted amber liquid into the glasses before setting it down and picking one of them up, saluting Rory quickly before throwing it back. Smirking, he set it back on the tray upside down and looked at Rory, his eyes following her movements as she peeled her olive colored jacket off, revealing the strip of skin between her breasts, lightly peppered with freckles, any cleavage cleverly covered by the white silk of the top. She quietly giggled as she watched Finn's eyes run up and down her torso quickly at first, then slowing down as it occurred to him that she wasn't going to slide her jacket back on before he had had a chance to implant the memory into his head.

Rory took the opportunity of his distraction to throw back a shot and quickly grab the other one and felt the liquid slide down her throat as she enjoyed the slow burning, the heat that quickly spread through her body. When her eyes leveled with the green ones that had previously been admiring her chest and waist, she noticed that they were clouded with something other than alcohol, something that resembled admiration, surprise, and, possibly, a bit of lust. Slowly raising the second shot glass, she kept her eyes on his, quickly throwing the shot back and taking a bite of the lime that had been set in front of her, the sudden sourness causing her to break eye contact and squeeze her eyes shut.

Ignoring the pleasant twisting in her stomach, something that she hadn't felt since before Jess had left Star's Hollow, she handed Finn the third of his set of shot glasses, taking the moment of his distraction to admire the tan arms that were left uncovered, slowly appreciating the broad shoulders and prominent jaw that was lightly sprinkled with short hairs, something that she hadn't noticed previously. Grabbing her shot glass, she handed the bottle of tequila over to Colin who was standing annoyingly close to her, hovering at the table waiting for the two to finish with the bottle.

Suddenly Finn's laugh cut through her thoughts, she slowly followed his gaze to see Colin now standing in front of a girl with long blonde hair that was in tightly done curls, Rory thought her name was Stephanie, attempting to get her to drink with him, or maybe it was to come home with him. "Colin has been going after Steph for ages, love, it's always entertaining to see him drunk and her turning him down all night long."

"Oh," she quietly stated, glancing up on the wall to find that it had been hours since she had last even thought of checking the clock. She shook her head for a moment, focusing her eyes to see if she had seen the time wrong, her mouth dropping open slightly when she realized that she hadn't. "Finn, I have to go, my roommate should be moved in by now, and I haven't seen her all summer…"

"Let me walk you then," he quickly said when she moved to stand up. "You've probably had more than you've had in while."

Rory slightly nodded in the affirmative, agreeing with Finn before taking the hands that he offered to help her step off the stool and onto solid ground, enjoying the feeling of his rough hands gently holding her own. She paused for a moment, attempting to steady herself enough to let go of his hands, failing quickly before throwing a helpless look at Finn, and she suddenly felt one of his arms wrap around her waist and steady her, his chest partially pressing up against her back and shoulder, causing her to feel the muscles beneath his shirt. Keeping his arm there, the two of them quietly maneuvered around the crowded pub, both of them silently shifting closer towards each other as they reached the heavy traffic of the front door.

"Rory? Are you okay?" Finn's voice whispered in her ear while they walked out the door.

She quickly nodded, feeling her head spin when she did, and the feeling in her stomach returning once again that night at the feeling of his warm breath sneaking its way around her ear and down her neck, his cologne engulfing her senses, the sweet, slightly spiced smell causing a smile to form on her face, the light draft of alcohol just under the delicious smell. Silently, she breathed his scent in, trying to memorize this moment to relive it later, in detail, with her mother once she had woken up and gained some hangover food. "Why are you taking care of me, Finn?" Rory heard her voice suddenly blurt out unexpectedly.

Rory watched as his head snapped up and then his eyes wondered over what he could see of her figure for a moment before he answered, his voice hesitant, "You left your family to travel to Europe with your grandmother; which, unless you had grown up with her, no college-aged student would do. But you're a Gilmore, which means that you come from high society, but also means that I should have seen out at all of those society parties the past few years, yet I haven't. That means that you live with your mother, Lorelai, I think her name is. It also proves that you didn't live with your grandparents, so you were running away from something this summer, the only question, kitten, is what."

Quickly biting her tongue, she prevented herself from speaking, knowing that anything she said about the situation that she'd gotten herself into with Dean would ruin whatever impression Finn had managed to get from her. She closed her eyes for a moment and thought about that night with Dean, shuddering for a moment before she slipped out of Finn's grasp, her feet getting tangled in each other. Finn quickly gripped her waist, pulling her up against him, their chests coming flush against each other's, his grip quietly tightening around her as she unwittingly allowed herself to lean into him.

"You don't think that you can trust me, do you?"

Rory silently nodded, lightly struggling against his grasp, which he silently loosened, keeping his hands close to her waist as she stepped backwards, creating a distance between the two of them as she allowed their eyes to lock, noticing that the emotions which had previously been present had been pushed out and overcome by one that had made his eyes darken in a way that she had rarely seen in any guy she'd been remotely involved with, and had her slightly leery of digging deeper to figure out exactly what it was. "I need to check on Paris," she managed to push out, her voice strained.

Finn nodded and held onto her shoulders for a moment, a questioning tone in his gaze before he knelt down, pulled her up and started to carry her. A look of surprise took over her facial expressions before she gave in and rested her head on his chest, silently allowing him to carry her in the direction of her dorm. Taking the time that was given to her, she allowed herself for the first time to consider what she'd done, something that she'd avoided almost to the point of denial. Suddenly, Rory felt tears quickly build up in her eyes and start to spill over with the relationship that she's slept with a married man. A married man that hadn't even been willing to leave his wife after she'd given him her virginity, something that she had been saving for someone truly special to her.

Feeling the fabric underneath her chin begin to dampen, she bit her lip as hard as she could, her shoulders tensing as she tried to keep herself from crying anymore; if she did, Finn would notice, if he hadn't already. Rory closed her eyes, squeezing the last of her tears out and moving to wipe them off when she felt his arms tighten around her form, dropping a kiss on top of her head before he started whispering unintelligible things into her hair as he carried her further around Yale.

In her attempt to stop crying and prevent Finn from finding out how messed up she was, she had managed to ruin it and show him. She heard someone sobbing, quietly at first, but getting louder as it went on before she realized that the person that was sobbing was, in fact, her. At this point, she was gasping out how sorry she was before Finn placed a small kiss on her forehead, telling her not to worry about it, that it was going to be fine. Slowly feeling herself being lowered, her legs and ass colliding with his legs as he sat down on a bench, Finn's arms tightening around her shoulders and waist, Rory curling up into him.

She grasped his shirt and buried her face into his chest, continuing to hold her tight to his body. Slowly, she felt herself low down to only a whimper before she drifted off to sleep in Finn's arms, slowly breathing in the comforting scent of his cologne and laundry detergent.

 


End file.
